Apparatus for locating and raising sunken vessels.



G. MCKENE. APPARATUS FOR Lomme Anm R'Msm sum/.EN vassns. APPLICATION FIID MAH. i915. Y l, gg, a'tented May'. 21, 1916.

3 S H E BY Mam G. Mc'ENZIYE. APPARATUS WR LOCAYING AND RMSNG SUNKEN VESSELS.

APPUCATION HLED MAR. 2. |915.

Patened Mar. 2l, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WIM/58858.'

G. MCKENZIE. APPARATUS FOH LOCATING AND RAISING SUNKEN vEssELs.

APPLICATJON FILED MAR. 2, 915. r 1,??@22-9. A Patented Am. 21,15%.

3 SHEETS-'SHUI 3.

AHORA/Ey 4 GERGE lVloKEBl'Z, 0F EVERETT, WASHINGTON.

APPARATUS FOR LOCATNG AND RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

License.

specialisation of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 21, 19116;.

' Application iied March 2, 1215. l Serial No. 11,510.

To all whom 'it may concern: l

4Be it known that l, GEORGE MCKENZIE,

tain new and useful rimprovement in Apparatus for Locating and Raising Sunken Vessels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in means for indicating the location of sunken vessels and raising such sunken vessels to the surface of the water, and the particular object of my improvement is to provide inexpensive, simple and reliably operative deu vices for indicating the location of a submarine war vessel which has become uncontrollable and. stranded on the sea bottom and for raising such vessel to the surface of the sea by the aid of a rescuing vessel; and a further object of my improvement is to provide telephonie meansv of communication between such sunkensubmarine vessel and said reselling vessel; and a still further object .of my improvement is to provide means by which air may be pumped from the surface of water into such sunken 'submarine vessel thus to furnish air to its crew until rescued.

I accomplish these objects by devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, some of which devices are similar in construction and operation to devices disclosed in United States Letters Patent Number 1,124,231,l

granted to me on date of January 5, 1915, for device for locating and raising sunken vessels and in such accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a view inside elevation in.- dicating a submarine vessel which embodies my invention as it may appear when helpof operation; Fig. 3 is a view in verticalA mid-section of parts of my invention; Fig. 4 is a View in side elevationof other operative parts of my invention; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 4 vwith a portion of its coverremoved better to illustrate interior parts; Fig. Gr'lis a plan view of operative parts of In invention; and Fig. 7 is a view in vertice mid-section on broken line y, y, of Fig. 3. ,Refer-ring. to the drawin s, throughout which like reference nu'mera s indicate like parts,in Fig. 1, 8 indicates a' submarine less on the sea bottom; Fig. 2 is a. View of4 war vessel as lying on the sea bottom in a disabled condition and on the surface of the sea are two buoys 9 and 10 to which are fixed signal flags 11 and 12 respectively. Each of the buoys 9 and 10 is AA'connected with the two members of a loop of a cable, as cables 13 and 14 respectively, which loop extends vertically downward into the hull of the vessel 8 wherein it is attached to a winding-drum 15 in the manner indicated in Fig. 6, wherebysaid buoys 9 and 10 with their flags 11 and 12 respectively,

dis`pla'yed on' the surface of the Asea may servons signals of distress as well as to indicate the location of the disabled vessel 8. When the vessel 8 is controllable under normal Lconditions of operation, either submerged or onthe surface ofthe sea, then the buoys 9' and 10' are each releasably secured to rest within a circular recess 16 formed in the deck of the vessel 8, inthe i manner shown in Figs. 2 and 3;

Extending downwardly from the bottoni of each recess 16 to the top wall of an in closing case 17 are two metal tubes 18 and 19, through each of which extends one oi" free to travel from. the winding-drum 15 through the tubes 18 and 19 over idler-pnl leys 20 and 21 which are rotatably Amounted Aon suitably supported shafts, such idlerpulleys -20 and 21 and said winding-drum.

15 being disposed-within the inclosing case 17 which is secured to the keelscn 22 oi the vessel 8.

The joints between the tubes 18 and 19 4and the bottoni` wall of the recess 16, and `vthe joints between-thetop wall of the in- `closing ,case 17 and the lower ends 'of said tubes --18 and 19 are water tight and also the inclosing case 17 is water tight whereby when the buoy 10 is released from the recess 16 and ascends upwardly, then no water can gainy access to' the interior of the vessel 8 although water may gain admittance into the tues 18 and 19 and the vinclosing case 17.

1f the veel B becomes disabled, when submergemso that it cannot operate to rise 'to the surface of the water,y then each of the buoys 9 and 10 may be released from its recess 16 to ascend to the surface of the sea by devices shown in Figs. 3, -1 and 5, wherein two levers 23 and 24 are pivotally mounted on a bracket 25 secured to the bottom wall of the recess 16 in the deck of the vessel 8, the upper ends of which levers 23 and 24 are provided with hooks 26 and 27 respectively which are disposed opposite each other to adapt them to removably engage with barb-like notches disposed on opposite sides of a catch 28 which is formed like the head of an arrow and which is secured in the center of the under surface of the bottom wall of the buoy 10, while the lower end portions of said levers 23 and 24 are widely separated and are connected together by branches 29 of a cham 30, as shown more clearly in F ig. 3, whereby a downward pull of the chain 3() will cause the hooks 26 and 27'to separate and disengage from the,

notches in the catch 28 thus to release the buoy 10 which will then be free to ascend upwardly through the water to the surface thereof by reason of its buoyancy, carrying with it the ends of the members of the loop of cable 14.

Adjacent to and bereath the pivoted portion of the levers 23 and 24 is a helical spring 31 which is adapted to exert its force normally to make the hooks 26 and 27 apy proach each other/,t0 cause them to enter the notches of thecatch 28, thus if there be no strain on the chain 30 when the buoy 10 is lowered into fthe.. recess 16 the arrow-like head of the catch 28 will spread apart the hooks 26 and 27 until they fall into the notches of the catch 28 there to be retained 'by the spring 21 until the chain 30 is drawn forcibly downward,- the yielding soft rubber diaphragm 54 permitting such movement, thus to lock the buoy 10 in its posi- .tion within the recess 16 in the obvious manner shown in Fig. 3. l

The chain 30 extends downwardly between the tubes 18 and 19 and its lower end is connected to a lever 32 one end of which -is pivotally attached to a bracket 33 secured vcase 17 adjacent to the/ edge thereof are guide braclzets'38 which serve to guide the lever 32 in its upward and downward .swinging movements. y

bwingingly mounted on the stud 37 is a hand lever 39 to which is pivotally'secnred a pawl 40 which is disposed to adapt it to releasably engage with the teeth of -the ratchet-wheel 36, while another pavvl 41 is pivotally attached to the side wall of the in closing case 17' in such position that it may also releasably engage with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel 36 normally to prevent the ratchet-wheel 36 from turning in a clockwise direction. Thus if itbe desired to release the buoy 10 to permit it to ascend to the surface of the water one may actuate the lever 39 to rotate the ratchet-wheel 36 -in a contra-clockwise direction whereby the connecting rod 34Qwill pull down the free end of the lever which will cause the chain 30 to be drawn downwardly, which chain 30 acting through its branches 29 will cause the lower ends of the levers 23 and 24 to approach each other against the force of the spring 31 thus to separate and disengage the hooks 26 and 27 from thecatch 28 and thereupon the buov 10 will be free to rise.

Y In order that the otlicers of a resellingl ship may communicate by telephone with the oiiicers' of the submerged, and disabled vessel 8, I have provided an electric conductor 42 which normallv is wound upon a reel 43 disposed within the inclosing case 17, which conductor 42 is extended from such reel 43 into the lower end of the tube 19, thence up through such tube 19 into and through an iron pipe 44 which is disposed to extend from the underside of the uoy 10 to the topmost portion thereof Where itmay be adapted, in a well known manner, to be connected to telephonie apparatus which may be supplied by the rescuing party of a ship; while the inner end portion of the vconductor 42 which is wound 0n the reel 43 may be disposed to adapt it to connect with telephone apparatus carried by the subma rine vessel 8. When the vessel. 8 is disabled and is resting lon the bottom of the sea with the buoys 10 and 11 floating on the surface of the sea a rescuing party that is provided with a suitable salvage vessel may raise the vessel 8 to the surface of thesea by hooking'the two portions of each of the cables 13 and 14 and cutting them free from their buoys and drawing such end portions on board the salvage vessel until both of the cables 13 and 14 are wholly unwound from their respective ldrums 15 so that theloop end of each is disposed to encircle the idler pulley 20 whereupon one end of each of two larger and stronger habiles (forraising the vessel 8) may be attached to one member lof the loop of a different one of the cables 13 and 14 and' then each of -said cables 13 and 14 may be'hauledby a winch to draw such larger cable down into the vessel 8 around the idler pulley 20 and up again Yon to the deck of the salvage ship, thus to replace each of the cables 13 and 14 with a larger and stronger cable both of whose ends may then be hauled by a winch to raise the vessel 8 by a strain on the pulley 2O which is Securely associated with the keelson 22.

In Fig. 7 I have illustrated means for conducting fresh air from a point above a buo \v as the buoy a5, (which corresponds to the buoys 5) and l0) to the interior of a vessel whose deck is indicated by the numeral llo, which means comprises a hose 47 which, in the form of a coil, is disposed in a receptacle #LS whose open top portion is fastened to the under surface of the bottom wall of the recess 49, through which bottom wall is an opening 50 which registers with the open top of the receptacle 48, and the upper end of such hose is `connected to a pipe .51 which is secured to the buoy 45 to extend upwardly therethrough to pro ject its top end above the top wall ot' the buoy l5 and such top end of the pipe 5l is provided with a removable cap 52, while the lower end of the coil ot' hose 47 connects with a nipple 53 which is disposed to extend through the bottom wall of the receptacle 4S. Thus if the vessel be resting ou the bottom of the sea in a disabled condition thcii the buoy 45 may be released, by liieans hereinbefore described, whereby the buoy l5 may ascend to the surface of the water carrying with it the upper end of the hose 47 and uncoiling such hose 47 as the buoy -l5 rises, whereby, while the buoy l5 vicloats on the surface of the sea, the crew oi a. rescue ship may remove the cap`52 and attach another hose leading to an air compressor on board of such rescue ship which compressor may then be operated to force fresh air through said hose 47r-into the submerged vessel. Obviously, in a similar manner another hose may be associated with the submarine vessel and with the buoy l5 through which foul air may escape from sui-h vessel. (if course, an air pump may be disposed within the submerged vessel for pumping air inwardly through the hose 47 after the cap 52 has been removed by one oi the rescuing party.

Manifestly, changes may be made in the form, dimensions and arrangement of parts oi! my invention without departing from the spirit thereof. i

lVhat l claim is:

'1. The combination with the hull of a submarine war vessel, of a hollow, air-tight -buoy made of sheet metal and formed to adapt it normally to rest on a seat provided on the deck of said vessel, a notched catch of arroweheaddike foi-m secured to the central portion of the bottom of said buoy to project downwardly therefrom, a pair of -levers pivotally secured to the underside of the deck of said vessel, said levers each having its upper' end portion provided with a hook-like member and disposed so that such end portion projects upwardly through said deck to releasably engage said hooklike members with said notched catch to lock said buoy in its seat on said deck, a

, resilient packing surrounding said levers V"and constituting means for preventing the casing, a cable connected at one end 'to said reel and at its other end to said member, cooperating means carried by said member and casing adapted to hold thebuoyant member on its seat, said cooperating means including a pair ot clutch levers, the deck beingr provided with an opening through which said clutch levers pass, a resilient diaphragm mounted in the opening and closely engaging the clutch levers to prevent access ot' water and to constitute spring .means for holding the clutch levers in engaging position, and pawl and ratchet mechanism associated with said means adapted to release the said member to peri mit the same to rise.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this eighteenthiday of February, A'. D. 1915.

GEORGE- MCKENZIE.

Witnesses N IGK Fox, A. HAsiiiNs. 

